IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


V 


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4j. 


Mt 


& 


1.0 


I.I 


144  11^ 

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11116       111"=^ 


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1.8 


1.25      1.4       1.6 

^ 6" 

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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  canadien  de  microreproduction-.  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  I    ^y  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 


n 


□ 


D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagee 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicul6e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Leti 


\  re  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdog-aphiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Pianches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  dune  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl^mentaires; 


L'institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  dt6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mdthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 


I      I    Coloured  pages/ 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicul^es 


I      I    Pages  damaged/ 

I      I    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 


0  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachetdes  ou  piqu6es 

□    Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tach^es 


V 


Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seuie  Edition  disponible 


D 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totaloment  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
titc,  cnt  6t6  film^es  d  nouveau  de  facon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu^  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


J 

1 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

B 

hails 
5  du 
lodifier 
r  une 
Image 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  Ail 
othor  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — »-  (meb    .=    "Cnw. 
TINUED"),  or  the  symbol  V  (meanm^    ^  .j"). 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  filmd  fut  reproduit  grdce  k  la 
g^nerosit^  de: 

Bibliothdque  nationale  du  Canada 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplairei  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  ost  imprimde  soiit  film6s  en  commengant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autre^  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film6s  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 

la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  chaque  microfiche,  seion  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE'  ,  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Stre 
filmds  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Stre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  i  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
lllustrent  la  mdthode. 


irrata 
to 


pelure, 
n  d 


□ 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

f  2  3 

4  5  6 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


BY 


ARCHIBALD  LAMPMAN 


BOSTON 
COPELAND  AND  DAY 


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Copyright  by  Copeland  and  Day,  1895. 


CONTENTS 


our 


The  Sweetness  of  Life 

God-speed  to  the  Snow 

April  in  the  Hills 

Forest  Moods 

The  Return  of  the  Year 

Favorites  of  Pan 

The  Meadow 

In  May 

Life  and  Nature 

With  the  Night 

June 

Distance 

The  Bird  and  the  H( 

After  Rain 

Cloud-break    . 

The  Moon-path 
.Comfort  of  the  Fields 

At  the  Ferry  . 

September 

A  Re-assurance 

The  Poet's  Possession 

An  Autumn  Landscape 

In  November 

By  an  Autumn  Stream 

Snowbirds 

Snow     . 

Sunset   . 

Winter-store. 

The  Sun  Cup 


5 

7 
8 

9 
lo 

II 

M 

»7 

19 

20 

21 

24 

25 

25 

27 
28 

29 
32 

35 
38 

39 

39 

40 

42 

44 

45 
46 

48 

56 


f 


k 


% 


lit 


\  I 


TO  MY  MOTHER 


Mother,  to  whose  valiant  will. 

Battling  long  ago. 
What  the  heaping  years  fulfil. 

Light  and  song,  I  owe; 
Send  my  little  book  a-field. 

Fronting  praise  or  blame 
With  the  shining  flag  and  shield 

Of  your  name. 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


THE  SWEETNESS  OF  LIFE 

IT  fell  on  a  day  I  was  happy, 
And  the  winds,  the  concave  sky, 
The  flowers  and  the  beasts  in  the  meadow 

Seemed  happy  even  as  I  ; 
And  I  stretched  my  hands  to  the  meadow. 

To  the  bird,  the  beast,  the  tree: 
**  Why  are  ye  all  so  happy  ?  " 
I  cried,  and  they  answered  me. 

What  sayest  thou,  Oh  meadow. 

That  stretchest  so  wide,  so  far. 
That  none  can  say  how  many 
Thy  misty  marguerites  are  ? 
And  what  say  ye,  red  roses. 

That  o'er  the  sun-blanched  wall 
From  your  high  black-shadowed  trellis 
Like  flame  or  blood-drops  fall  ? 

**  We  are  born,  we  are  reared,  and  we  linger 

A  various  space  and  die  ; 
We  dream,  and  are  bright  and  happy. 
But  we  cannot  answer  why." 

What  sayest  thou.  Oh  shadow. 

That  from  the  dreaming  hill 
All  down  the  broadening  valley 

Liest  so  sharp  and  still  ? 
And  thou.  Oh  murmuring  brooklet. 

Whereby  in  the  nconday  gleam 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


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The  loosestrife  burns  like  ruby. 
And  the  branched  asters  dream  ? 

•*  We  are  born,  we  are  reared,  and  we  linger 

A  various  space  and  die  ; 
We  dream  and  are  very  happy. 
But  we  '•annot  answer  why." 

And  then  of  myself  I  questioned. 

That  like  a  ghost  the  while 
Stood  from  me  and  calmly  answered. 

With  slow  and  curious  smile  : 
*'  Thou  art  born  as  the  flowers,  and  wilt  linger 

Thine  own  short  space  and  die  ; 
Thou  dream' St  and  art  strangely  happy. 

But  thou  canst  not  answer  why.** 


6 


m 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


GOD-SPEED  TO  THE  SNOW 

MARCH  is  slain;  the  keen  winds  fly; 
Nothing  more  is  thine  to  do; 
April  kisses  thee  good-bye; 
Thou  must  haste  and  follow  too; 
Silent  friend  that  guarded  well 
Withered  things  to  make  us  glad. 
Shyest  friend  that  could  not  tell 
Half  the  kindly  thought  he  had. 
Haste  thee,  speed  thee,  O  kind  snow; 
Down  the  dripping  valleys  go. 
From  the  fields  and  gleaming  meadows,, 
Where  the  slaying  hours  behold  thee. 
From  the  forests  whose  slim  shadows. 
Brown  and  leafless  cannot  fold  thee. 
Through  the  cedar  lands  aflame 
With  gold  light  that  cleaves  and  quivers. 
Songs  that  winter  may  not  tame. 
Drone  of  pines  and  laugh  of  rivers. 
May  thy  passing  joyous  be 
To  thy  father,  the  great  sea. 
For  the  sun  is  getting  stronger; 
Earth  hath  need  of  thee  no  longer; 
Go,  kind  snow,  God-speed  to  thee! 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


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APRIL  IN  THE  HILLS 

TO-DAY  the  world  is  wide  and  fair 
With  sunny  fields  of  lucid  air. 
And  waters  dancing  everywhere; 

The  snow  is  almost  gone; 
The  noon  is  builded  high  with  light. 
And  over  heaven's  liquid  height. 
In  steady  fleets  serene  and  white. 
The  happy  clouds  go  on. 

The  channels  run,  the  bare  earth  steams. 
And  every  hollow  rings  and  gleams 
With  jetting  falls  and  dashing  streams; 

The  rivers  burst  and  fill; 
The  fields  are  full  of  little  lakes. 
And  when  the  romping  wind  awakes 
The  water  ruffles  blue  and  shakes. 

And  the  pines  roar  on  the  hill. 

The  crows  go  by,  a  noisy  throng; 
About  the  meadows  all  day  long 
The  shore-lark  drops  his  brittle  song; 

And  up  the  leafless  tree 
The  nut-hatch  runs,  and  nods,  and  clings; 
The  bluebird  dips  with  flashing  wings. 
The  robin  flutes,  the  sparrow  sings. 

And  the  swallows  float  and  flee. 

I  break  the  spirit's  cloudy  bands, 
A  wanderer  in  enchanted  lands, 
I  feel  the  sun  upon  my  hands; 
8 


APRIL  IN  THE  HILLS 


And  far  from  care  and  strife 
The  broad  earth  bids  me  forth.  I  rise 
With  lifted  brow  and  upward  eyes. 
I  bathe  my  spirit  in  blue  skies. 

And  taste  the  springs  of  life. 

I  feel  the  tumult  of  new  birth; 
I  waken  with  the  wakening  earth; 
I  macch  the  bluebird  in  her  mirth; 

And  wild  with  wind  and  sun, 
A  treasurer  of  immortal  days, 
I  roam  the  glorious  world  with  praise. 
The  hillsides  and  the  woodland  ways. 

Till  earth  and  I  are  one. 

FOREST  MOODS 

THERE  is  singing  of  birds  in  the  deep  wet 
woods. 
In  the  heart  of  the  listening  solitudes, 
Pewees,  and  thrushes,  and  sparrows,  not  few. 
And  all  the  notes  of  their  throats  are  true. 

The  thrush  from  the  innermost  ash  takes  on 
A  tender  dream  of  the  treasured  and  gone; 
But  the  sparrow  singeth  with  pride  and  cheer 
Of  the  might  and  light  of  the  present  and  here. 

There  is  shining  of  Howers  in  the  deep  wet  woods. 
In  the  heart  of  the  sensitive  solitudes. 
The  roseate  bell  and  the  lily  are  there. 
And  every  leaf  of  their  sheaf  is  fair. 


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LYRICS  OF   EARTH 


Careless  and  bold,  without  dream  of  woe. 
The  trilliums  scatter  their  flags  of  snow; 
But  the  pale  wood-dafFodil  covers  her  face, 
Agloom  with  the  doom  of  a  sorrowful  race. 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  YEAR 

AGAIN  the  v,^arm  bare  earth,  the  noon 
That  hangs  upon  her  healing  scars. 
The  midnight  round,  the  great  red  moon. 
The  mother  with  her  brood  of  stars. 

The  mist-rack  and  the  wakening  rain 
Blown  soft  in  many  a  forest  way. 

The  yellowing  elm-trees,  and  again 
The  blood-root  in  its  sheath  of  gray. 

The  vesper-sparrow's  song,  the  stress 
Of  yearning  notes  that  gush  and  stream. 

The  lyric  joy,  the  tenderness, 

And  once  again  the  dream!   the  dream! 

A  touch  of  far-ofFjoy  and  power, 
A  something  it  is  life  to  learn. 

Comes  back  to  earth,  and  one  short  hour 
The  glamours  of  the  gods  return. 

This  life's  old  mood  and  cult  of  care 
Falls  smitten  by  an  older  truth. 

And  the  gray  world  wins  back  to  her 
The  rapture  of  her  vanished  youth. 
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9 


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THE  RETURN  OF  THE  YEAR 


Dead  thoughts  revive,  and  he  that  heeds 

Shall  hear,  as  by  a  spirit  led, 
A  song  among  the  golden  reeds: 

**  The  gods  are  vanished  but  not  dead!  " 

For  one  short  hour,  unseen  yet  near. 
They  haunt  us,  a  forgotten  mood, 

A  glory  upon  mead  and  mere, 
A  magic  in  the  leafless  wood. 

At  morning  we  shall  catch  the  glow 

Of  Dian's  quiver  on  the  hill. 
And  somewhere  in  the  glades  I  know 

That  Pan  is  at  his  piping  still. 


FAVORITES  OF  PAN 

ONCE,  long  ago,  before  the  gods 
Had  left  this  earth,  by  stream  and  forest  glade. 
Where  the  first  plough  upturned  the  clinging  sods. 
Or  the  lost  shepherd  strayed. 

Often  to  the  tired  listener's  ear 

There  came  at  noonday  or  beneath  the  stars 
A  sound,  he  knew  not  whence,  so  sweet  and  clear. 

That  all  his  aches  and  scars 

And  every  brooded  bitterness. 

Fallen  asunder  from  his  soul  took  flight. 

Like  mist  or  darkness  yielding  to  the  press 
Of  an  unnamed  delight, — 

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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


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A  sudden  brightness  of  the  heart, 

A  magic  fire  drawn  down  from  Paradise, 

That  rent  the  cloud  with  golden  gleam  apart, — 
And  far  before  his  eyes 

The  loveliness  and  calm  of  earth 

Lay  like  a  limitless  dream  remote  and  strange. 
The  joy,  the  strife,  the  triumph  and  the  mirth. 

And  the  enchanted  change; 

And  so  he  followed  the  sweet  sound. 

Till  faith  had  traversed  her  appointed  span. 

And  murmured  as  he  pressed  the  sacred  ground; 
**It  is  the  note  of  Pan!** 

Now  though  no  more  by  marsh  or  stream 
Or  dewy  forest  sounds  the  secret  reed — 

For  Pan  is  gone — Ah  yet,  the  infinite  dream 
Still  lives  for  them  th?t  heed. 


In  April,  when  the  turning  year 

Regains  its  pensive  youth,  and  a  soft  breath 
And  amorous  influence  over  marsh  and  mere 

Dissolves  the  grasp  of  death. 


i; 


To  them  that  are  in  love  with  life. 

Wandering  like  children  with  untroubled  eyes. 
Far  from  the  noise  of  cities  and  the  strife,  . 

Strange  flute-like  voices  rise 

12 


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FAVORITES  OF  PAN 


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At  noon  and  in  the  quiet  of  the  night 

From  every  watery  waste;  and  m  that  hour 

The  same  strange  spell,  the  same  unnamed  delight. 
Enfolds  them  in  its  power. 

An  old-world  joyousness  supreme. 

The  warmth  and  glow  of  an  immortal  balm. 
The  mood-touch  of  the  gods,   the  endless  dream. 

The  high  lethean  calm. 

They  see,  wide  on  the  eternal  way. 
The  services  of  earth,  the  life  of  man; 

And,  listening  to  the  magic  cry  they  say: 
"It  is  the  note  of  Pan!'* 

For,  long  ago,  when  the  new  strains 

Of  hostile  hymns  and  conquering  faiths  grew 
keen. 
And  the  old  gods  from  their  deserted  fanes. 

Fled  silent  and  unseen. 

So,  too,  the  goat-foot  Pan,  not  less 
Sadly  obedient  to  the  mightier  hand. 

Cut  him  new  reeds,  and  in  a  sore  distress 
Passed  out  from  land  to  land; 

And  lingering  by  each  haunt  he  knew. 

Of  fount  or  sinuous  stream  or  grassy  marge. 

He  set  the  syrinx  to  his  lips,  and  blew 
A  note  divinely  large; 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


And  all  around  him  on  the  wet 

Cool  earth  the  frogs  came  up,  and  with  a  smile 
He  took  them  in  his  hairy  hands,  and  set 

His  mouth  to  theirs  awhile. 

And  blew  into  their  velvet  throats; 

And  ever  from  that  hour  the  frogs  repeat 
The  murmur  of  Pan's  pipes,  the  notes. 

And  answers  strange  and  sweet; 

And  they  that  hear  them  are  renewed 

By  knowledge  in  some  god-like  touch  conveyed. 

Entering  again  into  the  eternal  mood. 
Wherein  the  world  was  made. 


THE    MEADOW 

HERE  when  the  cloudless  April  days  begin. 
And  the  quaint   crows  flock   thicker  day 
by  day. 
Filling  the  forests  with  a  pleasant  din. 

And  the  soiled  snow  creeps  secretly  away. 
Comes  the  small  busy  sparrow,  primed  with  glee. 
First  preacher  in  the  naked  wilderness. 
Piping  an  end  to  all  the  long  distress 
From  every  fence  and  every  leafless  tree. 

Now  with  soft  slight  and  viewless  artifice 

Winter's  iron  work  is    wondrously  undone; 
In  all  the  little  hollows   cored  with  ice 

The  clear  brown  pools   stand   simmering  in 
the  sun, 
14 


THE  MEADOW 


Frail  lucid  worlds,  upon  whose   tremulous  floors 
All  day  the  wandering  water-bugs  at  will. 
Shy  mariners  whose  oars  are  never  still. 

Voyage  and  dream  about  the  heightening  shores. 


t? 


The  bluebird,  peeping  from  the  gnarled  thorn. 
Prattles  upon  his  frolic  flute,  or  flings. 

In  bounding  flight  across  the  golden  morn. 

An  azure  gleam  from  oflF  his  splendid  wings. 

Here  the  slim-pinioned  swallows  sweep  and  pass 
Down  to  the  far-ofF  river;  the  black  crow 
With  wise  and  wary  visage  to  and  fro 

Settles  and  stalks  about  the  withered  grass. 


^  ' 


,1 


il 


Here,  when  the  murmurous  May-day  is  half  gone. 
The  watchful  lark  before  my  feet  takes  flight. 
And  wheeling  to  some  lonelier  field  far  on. 

Drops   with    obstreperous   cry;  and  here  at 
night. 
When  the  first  star  precedes  the  great  red  moon, 
The  shore-lark    tinkles  from   the  darkening 

field. 
Somewhere,  we  know  not,  in  the  dusk  con- 
cealed. 
His  little  creakling  and  continuous  tune. 


ill 

m 


,i 


Here,  too,  the  robins,  lusty  as  of  old. 

Hunt  the  waste  grass  for  forage,   or  prolong 

From  every  quarter  of  these  fields  the  bold, 

Blithe  phrases  of  their  never-finished  song. 

15 


f 


M 


w 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


!i' 


i| 


The  white-throat's  distant  descant  v/ith  slow  stress 
Note  after  note  upon  the  noonday  falls. 
Filling  the  leisured  air  at  intervals 

With  his  own  mood  of  piercing  pensiveness. 

How  often  from  this  windy  upland  perch. 

Mine  eyes   have  seen   the   forest   break   in 
bloom. 
The  rose-red  maple  and  the  golden  birch. 

The  dusty  yellow  of  the  elms,  the  gloom 
Of  the  tall  poplar  hung  with  tasseled  black; 

Ah,  I  have  watched,    till  eye  and  ear  and 
brain 

Grew  full  of  dreams  as  they,  the  moted  plain. 
The  sun-steeped  wood,  the  marsh-land  at  its  back. 

The  valley  where  the  river  wheels  and  fills. 
Yon.  city  glimmering  in  its  smoky  shroud. 

And  out  at  the  last  misty  rim  the  hills 

Blue  and  far  off  and  mounded  like  a  cloud. 

And  here  the  noisy  rutted  road  that  goes 

Down  the  slope  yonder,  flanked  on  either  side 
With  the  smooth-furrowed  fields  flung  black 
and  wide. 

Patched  with  pale  water  sleeping  in  the  rows. 

So  as  I  watched  the  crowded  leaves  expand. 

The    bloom    break    sheath,    the    summer's 
strength  uprear. 
In  earth's  great  mother's  heart  already  planned 
The  heaped  and   burgeoned  plenty  of  the 
year, 
i6 


11^ 


THE  MEADOW 


Even  as  she  from  out  her  wintry  cell 
My  spirit  also  sprang  to  life  anew. 
And  day  by  day  as  the  spring's  bounty  grew, 

Its  conquering  joy  possessed  me  like  a  spell. 

In  reverie  by  day  and  midnight  dream 

I  sought  these  upland  fields  and  walked  apart. 

Musing  on  Nature,  till  my  thought  did  seem 
To  read  the  very  secrets  of  her  heart; 

In  mooded  moments  earnest  and  sublime 

I  stored  the  themes  of  many  a  future  song. 
Whose  substance  should  be  Nature's,  clear 
and  strong. 

Bound  in  a  casket  of  majestic  rhyme. 

Brave  bud-like  plans  that  never  reached  the  fruit. 
Like  hers  our  mother's  who  with  every  hour. 

Easily  replenished  from  the  sleepless  root. 

Covers  her  bosom  with  fresh  bud  and  flower; 

Yet  I  was  happy  as  young  lovers  be. 

Who  in  the  season  of  their  passion's  birth 
Deem  that  they  have  their  utmost  worship's 
worth. 

If  love  be  near  them,  just  to  hear  and  see. 


!        \ 


IN  MAY 


G 


RIEF  was  my  master  yesternight; 
To-morrow  I  may  grieve  again; 
Bet  now  along  the  windy  plain 
The  clouds  have  taken  flight. 


»7 


:l; 


\ 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


The  sowers  in  the  furrows  go; 

The  lusty  river  brimmeth  on; 
The  curtains  from  the  hills  are  gone; 
The  leaves  are  out;  and  lo. 

The  silvery  distance  of  the  day. 

The  light  horizons,  and  between 
The  glory  of  the  perfect  green. 
The  tumult  of  the  May. 

The  bobolinks  at  noonday  sing 

More  softly  than  the  softest  flute. 
And  lightlier  than  the  lightest  lute 
Their  fairy  tambours  ring. 

The  roads  far  off  are  towered  with  dust; 

The  cherry-blooms  are  swept  and   thinned; 
In  yonder  swaying  elms  the  wind 
Is  charging  gust  on  gust. 

But  here  there  is  no  stir  at  all; 

The  ministers  of  sun  and  shadow 
Horde  all  the  perfumes  of  the  meadow 
Behind  a  grassy  wall. 

An  infant  rivulet  wind-free  ., 

Adown  the  guarded  hollow  sets. 
Over  whose  brink  the  violets 
Are  nodding  peacefully. 
i8 


LIFE  AND  NATURE 


I'     ! 


From  pool  to  pool  it  prattles  by; 

The  flashing  swallows  clip  and  pass. 
Above  the  tufted  marish  grass. 
And  here  at  rest  am  I. 


i 


I  care  not  for  the  old  distress. 

Nor  if  to-morrow  bid  me  moan; 
To-day  is  mine,  and  I  have  known 
An  hour  of  blessedness. 


LIFE  AND  NATURE 

I   PASSED  through  the  gates  of  the  city. 
The  streets  were  strange  and  still. 
Through  the  doors  of  the  open  churches 
The  organs  wrere  moaning  shrill. 

Through  the  doors  and  the  great  high  windows 

I  heard  the  murmur  of  prayer. 
And  the  sound  of  their  solemn  singing 

Streamed  out  on  the  sunlit  air; 


» 1 41 


A  sound  of  some  great  burden 

That  lay  on  the  world's  dark  breast. 

Of  the  old,  and  the  sick,  and  the  lonely. 
And  the  weary  that  cried  for  rest. 


19 


U( 


^ 


SRUiI'VUMfffli'fBWiWM 


f 


it 


M 


] 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


I  strayed  through  the  midst  of  the  city 
Like  one  distracted  or  mad. 

'*Oh,  Life!  Oh,  Life!"  I  kept  saying. 
And  the  very  word  seemed  sad. 


I  passed  through  the  gates  of  the  city. 
And  I  heard  the  small  birds  sing, 

I  laid  me  down  in  the  meadows 
Afar  from  the  bell-ringing. 


In  the  depth  and  the  bloom  of  the  meadows 
I  lay  on  the  earth's  quiet  breast. 

The  poplar  fanned  me  with  shadows. 
And  the  veery  sang  me  to  rest. 


Blue,  blue  was  the  heaven  above  me. 
And  the  earth  green  at  my  feet; 
Oh,  Life!  Oh,  Life!"  I  kept  saying. 
And  the  very  word  seemed  sweet. 


<( 


WITH  THE  NIGHT 

O   DOUBTS,  dull  passions,  and  base  fears. 
That  harassed  and  oppressed  the  day. 
Ye  poor  remorses  and  vain  tears. 
That  shook  this  house  of  clay: 

30 


( 

I 


JUNE 


All  heaven  to  the  western  bars 

Is  glittering  with  the  darker  dawn- 
Here  with  the  earth,  the  night,  the  stars. 
Ye  have  no  place:  begone! 


JUNE 

T    ONG,  long  ago,  it  seems,  this  summer  morn 
±^  1  hat  pale-browed  April  passed  with  pensive 
tread 

Through  the  frore   woods,   and   from  its 
frost-bound  bed 
Woke  the  arbutus  with  her  silver  horn; 

And  now  May,  too,  is  fled. 
The  flower-crowned  month,  the  merry  laughing 

With  rosy  feet  and  fingers  dewy  wet. 
Leaving  the  woods  and  all  cool  gardens  gay 
With  tulips  and  the  scented  violet. 

Gone  are  the  wind-flower  and  the  adder-tongue 
And  the  sad  drooping  bellwort,  and  no  more 
1  he  snowy  triiliums  crowd  the  forest's  floor: 
1  he  purplmg  grasses  are  no  longer  young. 

And  summer's  wide-set  door 
O'er  the  thronged  hills  and  the  broad  panting  earth 

Lets  in  the  torrent  of  the  later  bloom, 
Haytime,  and  harvest,  and  the  after  mirth. 

The   slow   soft    rain,   the    rushing  thunder 
plume. 

21 


tl 


'    (1 


^w 


f 


!l{| 


I 


1 
1 
! 

i 

1 
1 

i 

» 

u 

H 

i 

1 

i 

LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


All  day  in  garden  alleys  moist  and  dim, 

The  humid  air  is  burdened  with  the  rose; 
In    moss-deep    woods    the    creamy    orchid 
blows; 
And  now  the  vesper-sparrows*  pealing  hymn 
From  every  orchard  close 

At  eve  comes  flooding  rich  and  silvery; 

The    daisies  in    great  meadows    swing  and 
shine; 
And  with  the  wind  a  sound  as  of  the  sea 

Roars  in  the  maples  and  the   topmost  pine. 


High  in  the  hills  the  solitary  thrush 

Tunes  magically  his  music  of  fine  dreams. 
In  briary  dells,   by  boulder-broken  streams; 

And  wide  and  far  on  nebulous  fields  aflush 
The  mellow  morning  gleams. 

The  orange  cone-flowers  purple-bossed  are  there. 
The  meadow's  bold-eyed  gypsies  deep  of  hue. 

And  slender  hawkweed  tall  and  softly  fair, 

^^nd  rosy  tops  of  fleabane  veiled  with  dew. 


So  with  thronged  voices  and  unhasting  flight 
The  fervid  hours  with  long  return  go  by; 
The  far-heard  hylas  piping  shrill  and  high 

Tell  the  slow  moments  of  the  solemn  night 
With  unremitting  cry; 

Lustrous  and  large  out  of  the  gathering  drouth 
The  planets  gleam;  the  baleful  Scorpion 

22 


^ 


■ 


JUNE 


Trails  his  dim  fires  along  the  droused  south; 

The  silent  world-in crusted  round  moves  on. 

And  all  the  dim  night  long  the  moon's  white  beams 
Nestle  deep  down  in  every  brooding  tree. 
And  sleeping  birds,  touched  with  a  silly  glee. 

Waken  at  midnight  from  their  blissful  dreams. 
And  carol  brokenly.  ... 


'JU 


Dim  surging  motions  and  uneasy  dreads 

Scare  the  light  slumber  from  men's  busy  eyes. 

And  parted  lovers  on  their  restless  beds 

Toss  and  yearn  out,  and  cannot  sleep  for  cighs. 


dew. 


Oft  have  I  striven,  sweet  month,  to  figure  thee. 
As  dreamers  of  old  time  were  wont  to  feign. 
In  living  form  of  flesh,  and  striven  in  vain; 

Yet  when  some  sudden  old-world  mystery 
Of  passion  fired  my  brain. 

Thy  shape  hath   flashed  upon  me  like  no  dream. 
Wandering  with  scented  curls  that  heaped 
the  breeze. 

Or  by    he  hollow  of  some  reeded  stream 
Sitting  waist-deep  in  white  anemones; 


And  even  as  I  glimpsed  thee  thou  wert  gone, 
A  dream  for  mortal  eyes  too  proudly  coy, 
Yet  in  thy  place  for  subtle  thought's  employ 
The  golden  magic  clung,  a  light  that  shone 
And  filled  me  with  thy  joy, 

23 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


Before  me  like  a  mist  that  streamed  and  fell 

All    names    and    chapes    of  antique    beauty 
passed 

In  garlanded  procession  with  the  swell 

Of  flutes  between  the  beechen  stems;  and  last. 


I  fWK  the  Arcadian  valley,  the  loved  wood, 
Alpheus  stream  divine,  the  sighing  shore, 
And  through  the  cool  green  glades,  awake 
once  more. 
Psyche,  the  white-limbed  goddess,  still  pursued. 

Fleet-footed  as  of  yore. 
The  noonday  ringing  with  her  frighted  peals, 
Down   the  bright   sward   and   through   the 
reeds  she  ran. 
Urged  by  the  mountain  echoes,  at  her  heels 

The  hot-blown  cheeks  and  trampling  feet 
of  Pan. 


t   ! 
t 


DISTANCE 

TO  the  distance!  Ah,  the  distance! 
Blue  and  broad  and  dim! 
Peace  is  not  in  burgh  or  meadow. 
But  beyond  the  rim. 


F 


Aye,  beyond  it,  far  beyond  it; 

Follow  still  my  soul. 
Till  this  earth  is  lost  in  heaven. 

And  thou  feel'st  the  whole. 


24 


■ 


wmmmmmmf 


P« 


THE  BIRD  AND  THE  HOUR 


THE  BIRD  AND  THE  HOUR 

THE  sun  looks  over  a  little  hill 
And  floods  the  valley  w"th  gold 

A  torrent  of  gold; 
And  the  hither  field  is  green  and  still; 
Beyond  it  a  cloud  outrolled. 
Is  glowing  molten  and  bright; 
And  soon  the  hill,  and  the  valley  and  all. 
With  a  quiet  fall. 
Shall  be  gathered  into  the  night. 
And  yet  a  moment  more. 

Out  of  the  silent  wood. 
As  if  from  the  closing  door 
Of  another  world  and  another  lovelier  mood, 
Hear'st  thou  the  hermit  pour  — 
So  sweet!  so  magical!  — 
.     His  golden  music,  ghostly  beautiful. 

AFTER  RAIN 

FOR   three  whole  days  across  the  sky. 
In  sullen  packs  that  loomed  and  broke. 
With  flying  fringes  dim  as  smoke. 
The  columns  of  the  rain  went  by; 
At  every  hour  the  wind  awoke  ; 

The  darkness  passed  upon  the  plain  ; 
The  great  drops  rattled  at  the  pane. 

Now  piped  the  wind,  or  far  aloof 
Fell  to  a  sough  remote  and  dull  ; 
And  all  night  long  with  rush  and  lull 

25 


*l 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


(        I  i 


The  rain  kept  drumming  on  the  roof: 
I  heard  till  ear  and  sense  were  full 

The  clash  or  silence  of  the  leaves. 
The  gurgle  in  the  creaking  eaves. 

But  when  the  fourth  day  came — at  noon. 

The  darkness  and  the  rain  were  by  ; 

The  sunward  roofs  were  steaming  dry  ; 

And  all  the  world  was  flecked  and  strewn 

With  shadows  from  a  fleecy  sky. 

The  haymakers  were  forth  and  gone. 
And  every  rillet  laughed  and  shone. 

Then,  too,  on  me  that  loved  so  well 
The  world,  despairing  in  her  blight. 
Uplifted  with  her  least  delight. 
On  me,  as  on  the  earth,  there  fell 
New  happiness  of  mirth  and  might ; 

I  strode  the  valleys  pied  and  still ; 

I  climbed  upon  the  breezy  hill. 

I  watched  the  gray  hawk  wheel  and  drop. 

Sole  shadow  on  the  shining  world  ; 

I  saw  the  mountains  clothed  and  curled. 

With  forest  ruffling  to  the  top  ; 

I  saw  the  river's  length  unfurled. 

Pale  silver  down  the  fruited  plain. 
Grown  great  and  stately  with  the  rain. 

Through  miles  of  shadow  and  soft  heat. 
Where  field  and  fallow,  fence  and  tree, 
26 


i 


wtmm 


MMM 


AFTER  RAIN 


Were  all  one  world  of  greenery, 
I  heard  the  robin  ringing  sweet. 
The  sparrow  piping  silverly. 

The  thrushes  at  the  forest's  hem; 

And  as  I  went  I  sang  with  them. 


.'^1 


CLOUD-BREAK 

WITH  a  turn  of  his  magical  rod. 
That  extended  and  suddenly  shone. 
From  the  round  of  his  glory  some  god 
Looks  forth  and  is  gone. 

To  the  summit  of  heaven  the  clouds 

Are  rolling  aloft  like  steam; 

There's  a  break  in  their  infinite  shrouds. 

And  below  it  a  gleam. 

O'er  the  drift  of  the  river  a  whiff 

Comes  out  from  the  blossoming  shore; 

And  the  meadows  are  greening,  as  if 

They  never  were  green  before. 

The  islands  are  kindled  with  gold 

And  russet  and  emerald  dye; 

And  the  interval  waters  ou trolled 

Are  more  blue  than  the  sky. 

From  my  feet  to  the  heart  of  the  hills 

The  spirits  of  May  intervene. 

And  a  vapor  of  azure  distills 

Like  a  breath  on  the  opaline  green.    "' 

27 


m 


II 


it 


'    Ml 

m 


■•.A'H^l^itr.: 


J 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


ffl 


Only  a  moment!  —  and  then 
The  chill  and  the  shadow  decline. 
On  the  eyes  of  rejuvenate  men 
That  were  wide  and  divine. 


11 


I 


THE    MOON-PATH 

THE  full,  clear  moon  uprose  and  spread 
Her  cold,  pale  splendor  o'er  the  sea; 
A  light-strewn  path  that  seemed  to  lead 

Outward  into  eternity. 
Between  the  darkness  and  the  gleam 

An  old-world  spell  encompassed  me: 
Methought  that  in  a  godlike  dream 
I  trod  upon  the  sea. 

And  lo!  upon  that  glimmering  road. 

In  shining  companies  unfurled. 
The  trains  of  many  a  primal  god. 

The  monsters  of  the  elder  world; 
Strange  creatures  that,  with  silver  wings. 

Scarce  touched  the  ocean's  thronging  floor. 
The  phantoms  of  old  tales,  and  things 

Whose  shapes  are  known  no  more. 


Giants  and  demi-gods  who  once 

Were  dwellers  of  the  earth  and  sea. 

And  they  who  from  Deucalion's  stones. 
Rose  men  without  an  infancy; 

28 


)or. 


i 


THE   MOON-PATH 


Beings  on  whose  majestic  lids 

Time's  solemn  secrets  seemed  to  dwell, 
Tritons  and  pale-limbed  Nereids, 

And  forms  of  heaven  and  hell. 

Some  who  were  heroes  long  of  yore. 

When  the  great  world  was  hale  and  young; 
And  some  whose  marble  lips  yet  pour 

The  murmur  of  an  antique  tongue; 
Sad  queens,  whobC  names  are  like  soft  moans. 

Whose  griefs  were  written  up  in  gold; 
And  some  who  on  their  silver  thrones 

Were  goddesses  of  old. 

As  if  I  had  been  dead  indeed. 

And  come  into  some  after-land, 
I  saw  them  pass  me,  and  take  heed. 

And  touch  me  with  each  mighty  hand; 
And  evermore  a  murmurous  stream. 

So  beautiful  they  seemed  to  me. 
Not  less  than  in  a  godlike  dream 

I  trod  the  shining  sea. 


COMFORT  OF  THE  FIELDS 

WHAT  would'st   thou    have   for   easement 
after  grief. 
When    the    rude  world  hath  used   thee   with 

despite. 
And  care  sits  at  thine  elbow  day  and  night. 
Filching  thy  pleasures  like  a  subtle  thief? 

29 


H 


•J 


iliti 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


To  me,  when  life  besets  me  in  such  wise, 
'Tis  sweetest  to  break  forth,  to  dr'^o  the  chain. 
And  grasp  the  freedom  of  this  pleasant  earth. 
To  roam  in  idleness  and  sober  mirth. 
Through  summer  airs  and  summer  lands,  and  drain 
The  comfort  of  wide  fields  unto  tired  eyes. 

By  hills  and  waters,  farms  and  solitudes. 
To  wander  by  the  day  with  wilful  feet; 
Through  fielded  valleys   wide  with  yellowing 
wheat  ; 
Along  gray  roads  that  run  between  deep  woods. 
Murmurous  and  cool  ;  through  hallowed  slopes 
of  pine. 
Where   the  long  daylight  dreams,  unpierced, 

unstirred. 
And  only  the  rich-throated  thrush  is  heard; 
By  lonely  forest  brooks  that  froth  and  shine 
In  bouldered  crannies  buried  in  the  hillr.; 
By  broken  beeches  tangled  with  wild  vine. 
And  log-strewn  rivers  murmurous  with  mills. 

In  upland  pastures,  sown  with  gold,  and  sweet 
With  the  keen  perfume  of  the  ripening  grass. 
Where  wings  of  birds  and  filmy  shadows  pass. 

Spread  thick  as  stars  with  shining  marguerite; 

To  haunt  old  fences  overgrown  with  brier. 
Muffled  in   vines,    and   hawthorns,    and   wild 

cherries. 
Rank    poisonous    ivies,     red-bunched     elder- 
berries, 
30 


COMFORT  OF  THE  FIELDS 


And  pi^d  blossoms  to  the  heart's  desire. 
Gray  mullein  towering  into  yellow  bloom, 
Pink-tasseled  milkweed,  breathing  dense  per- 
fume. 

And  swarthy  vervain,  tipped  with  violet  fire. 

To  hear  at  eve  the  bleating  of  far  flocks. 

The    mud-hen's   whistle    from    the   marsh    at 

morn  ; 
To  skirt  with  deafened  ears  and  brain  o'erborne 

Some  foam-filled  rapid  charging  down  its  rocks 

With  iron  roar  of  waters  ;   far  away 

Across  wide-reeded  meres,  pensive  with  noon. 
To  hear  the  querulous  outcry  of  the  loon; 

To  lie  among  deep  rocks,  and  watch  all  day 
On  liquid  heights  the  snowy  clouds  melt  by; 

Or  hear  from  wood-capped  mountain-brows  the  jay 
Pierce  the  bright  morning  with  his  jibing  cry. 

To  feast  on  summer  sounds  ;  the  jolted  wains. 
The  thrasher  humming  from  the  farm  near  by. 
The  prattling  cricket's  intermittent  cry. 

The  locust's  rattle  from  the  sultry  lanes; 

Or  in  the  shadow  of  some  oaken  spray. 

To  watch,  as   through    a    mist   of  light    and 

dreams. 
The  far-off  hay-fields,  where  the  dusty  teams 

Drive  round  and  round  the  lessening  squares  of  hay. 
And  hear  upon  the  wind,  now  loud,  now  low. 

With  drowsy  cadence  half  a  summer's  day. 
The  clatter  of  the  reapers  come  and  go. 


^f\ 


Ml! 


I  k: 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


Far  violet  hills,  horizons  filmed  with  showers. 
The    murmur    of  cool    streams,    the    forest's 

gloom. 
The  voices  of  the  breathing  grass,  the  hum 
Of  ancient  gardens  overbanked  with  flowers: 
Thus,  with  a  smile  as  golden  as  the  dawn. 
And  cool  fair  fingers  radiantly  divine. 
The  mighty  mother  brings  us  in  her  hand. 
For  all  tired  eyes  and  foreheads  pinched  and  wan. 
Her  restful  cup,  her  beaker  of  bright  wine: 
Drink,  and  be  filled,  and  ye  shall  understand! 


AT   THE    FERRY 

ON  such  a  day  the  shrunken  stream 
Spends  its  last  water  and  runs  dry; 
Clouds  like  far  turrets  in  a  dream 

Stand  baseless  in  the  burning  sky. 
On  such  a  day  at  every  rod 

The  toilers  in  the  hay-Held  halt. 
With  dripping  brows,  and  the  parched  sod 
Yields  to  the  crushing  foot  like  salt. 

But  here  a  little  wind  astir. 

Seen  waterward  in  jetting  lines. 
From  yonder  hillside  topped  with  fir 

Comes  pungent  with  the  breath  of  pines; 
And  here  when  all  the  noon  hangs  still. 

White-hot  upon  the  city  tiles, 
A  perfume  and  a  wintry  chill 

Breathe  from  the  yellow  lumber-piles. 

32 


AT  THE  FERRY 


I 


And  all  day  long  there  falls  a  blur 

Of  noises  upon  listless  ears, 
T  he  rumble  of  the  trams,  the  stir 

Of  barges  at  the  clacking  piers; 
The  champ  of  wheels,  the  crash  of  steam. 

And  ever,  without  change  or  stay, 
The  drone,  as  through  a  troubled  dream, 

Of  waters  falling  far  away. 

A  tug-boat  up  the  farther  shore 

Half  pants,  half  whistles,  in  her  draught; 
The  cadence  of  a  creaking  oar 

Falls  drowsily;  a  corded  raft 
Creeps  slowly  in  the  noonday  gleam. 

And  wheresoe'er  a  shadow  sleeps 
The  men  lie  by,  or  half  a-dream. 

Stand  leaning  at  the  idle  sweeps. 

And  all  day  long  in  the  quiet  hay 

The  eddying  amber  depths  retard. 
And  hold,  as  in  a  ring,  at  play. 

The  heavy  saw-logs  notched  and  scarred; 
And  yonder  between  cape  and  shoal. 

Where  the  long  currents  swing  and  shift. 
An  aged  punt-man  with  his  pole 

Is  searching  in  the  parted  drift. 

At  moments  from  the  distant  glare 
The  murmur  of  a  railway  steals 

Round  yonder  jutting  point  the  air 
Is  beaten  with  the  puif  of  wheels; 

33 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


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And  here  at  hand  an  open  mill. 
Strong  clamor  at  perpetual  drive. 

With  changing  chant,  now  hoarse,  now  shrill. 
Keeps  dinning  like  a  mighty  hive. 

A  furnace  over  field  and  mead. 

The  rounding  noon  hangs  hard  and  white; 
Into  the  gathering  heats  recede 

The  hollows  of  the  Chelsea  height; 
But  under  all  to  one  quiet  tune, 

A  spirit  in  cool  depths  withdrawn. 
With  logs,  and  dust,  and  wrack  bestrewn. 

The  stately  river  journeys  on. 

1  watch  the  swinging  currents  go 

Far  down  to  where,  enclosed  and  piled. 
The  logs  crowd,  and  the  Gatineau 

Comes  rushing  from  the  northern  wild. 
I  see  the  long  low  point,  where  close 

The  shore-lines,  and  the  waters  end, 
I  watch  the  barges  pass  in  rows 

That  vanish  at  tlie  tapering  bend. 

I  see  as  at  the  noon's  pale  core  — 

A  shadow  that  lifts  clear  and  floats  — 
The  cabin'd  village  round  the  shore. 

The  landing  and  the  fringe  of  boats; 
Faint  films  of  smoke  that  curl  and  wreathe. 

And  upward  with  the  like  desire 
The  vast  gray  church  that  seems  to  breathe 

In  heaven  with  its  drea..  ing  spire. 

0-1-       ■-  ■  •-■ -- ----■  --^^=.^..^.. ...-■-.... ^-.-- 


V 


AT  THE  FERRY 


,1 


And  there  the  last  blue  boundaries  rise. 

That  guard  within  their  compass  furled 
This  plot  of  earth:   beyond  them  lies 

The  mystery  of  the  echoing  world; 
And  still  my  thought  goes  on,  and  yields 

New  vision  and  new  joy  to  me. 
Far  peopled  hil.s,  and  ancient  fields. 

And  cities  by  the  crested  sea. 

I  see  no  more  the  barges  pass. 

Nor  mark  the  ripple  round  the  pier. 
And  all  the  uproar,  mass  on  mass. 

Falls  dead  upon  a  vacant  ear. 
Beyond  the  tumult  of  the  mills. 

And  all  the  city's  sound  and  strife. 
Beyond  the  waste,  beyond  the  hills, 

I  look  far  out  and  dream  of  life. 


"i 


SEPTEMBER 

NOW  hath  the  summer  reached  her  golden 
cl'^^e. 
And,  lost  amid  her  corn-fields,  bright  of  soul. 
Scarcely  perceives  from  her  divine  repose 

How  near,  how  swift,  the  inevitable  goal: 
Still,  still,  she  smiles,  though  from  her  careless 
feet 
The  bounty  and  the  fruitful  strength  are  gone. 
And   through    the   soft   long   wondering   days 
goes  on 
The  silent  sere  decadence  sad  and  sweet. 

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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


The  kingbird  and  the  pensive  thrush  are  fled. 

Children  of  light,  too  fearful  of  the  gloom; 
The  sun  falls  low,  the  secret  word  is  said. 

The  mouldering  woods  grow  silent  as  the  tomb; 
Even  the  fields  have  lost  their  sovereign  grace. 

The  cone-flower  and  the  marguerite  ;  and  no 
more. 

Across  the  river's  shadow-haunted  floor. 
The  paths  of  skimming  swallows  interlace. 


\i  m 


I' 


5'« 


Already  in  the  outland  wilderness 

The  forests  echo  with  unwonted  dins ; 
In  clamorous  gangs  the  gathering  woodmen  press 

Northward,  and  the  stern  winter's  toil  begins. 
Around  the  long  low  shanties,  whose  rough  lines 

Break  the  sealed  dreams  of  many  an  unnamed 
lake. 

Already  in  the  frost-clear  morns  awake 
The  crash  and  thunder  of  the  falling  pines. 


Where  the  tilled  earth,  with  all  its  fields  set  free. 
Naked  and  yellow  from  the  harvest  lies. 

By  many  a  loft  and  busy  granary. 

The  hum  and  tumult  of  the  thrashers  rise; 

There  the  tanned  farmers  labor  without  slack. 
Till  twilight  deepens  round  the  spouting  mill. 
Feeding   the   loosened  sheaves,  or  with  fierce 
will. 

Pitching  waist-deep  upon  the  dusty  stack. 


J 


SEPTEMBER 


Still  a  brief  while,  ere  the  old  year  quite  pass. 
Our  wandering  steps  and  wistful  eyes  shall  greet 

The  leaf,  the  water,  the  beloved  grass  ; 

Still  from  these  haunts  and  this  accustomed  seat 

I  see  the  wood-wrapt  city,  swept  with  light. 
The  blue  long-shadowed  distance,  and,  between. 
The  dotted   farm-lands    with   their    parcelled 
green. 

The  dark  pine  forest  and  the  watchful  height. 

I  see  the  broad  rough  meadow  stretched  away 

Into  the  crystal  sunshine,  wastes  of  sod. 
Acres  of  withered  vervain,  purple-gray. 

Branches  of  aster,  groves  of  goldenrod;. 
And  yonder,  toward  the  sunlit  summit,  strewn 

With  shadowy  boulders,  crowned  and  swathed 
with  weed. 

Stand  ranks  of  silken  thistles,  blown  to  seed. 
Long  silver  fleeces  shining  like  the  noon. 


In  far-ofF  russet  corn-fields,  where  the  dry 

Gray  shocks  stand  peaked  and  withering,  half 
concealed 

In  the  rough  earth,  the  orange  pumpkins  lie. 
Full-ribbed  ;  and  in  the  windless  pasture-field 

The  sleek  red  horses  o'er  the  sun-warmed  ground 
Stand  pensively  about  in  companies. 
While  all  around   them  from  the  motionless 
trees 

The  long  clean  shadows  sleep  without  a  sound. 

^        ^    ^^ m 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


Under  cool  elm-trees  floats  the  distant  stream, 
Moveless  as  air;  and  o'er  the  vast  warm  earth 

The  fathomless  daylight  seems  to  stand  and  dream, 
A  liquid  cool  elixir  —  all  its  girth 

Bound  v^rith  Taint  haze,  a  frail  transparency. 
Whose  lucid  purple  barely  veils  and  fills 
The  utmost  valleys  and  the  thin  last  hills. 

Nor  mars  one  whit  their  perfect  clarity. 

Thus  without  grief  the  golden  days  go  by. 
So  soft  we  scarcely  notice  how  they  wend. 

And  like  a  smile  half  happy,  or  a  sigh. 
The  summer  passes  to  her  quiet  end  ; 

And  soon,  too  soon,  around  the  cumbered  eaves 
Sly  frosts  shall  take  the  creepers  by  surprise. 
And     through     the    wind-touched    reddening 
woods  shall  rise 

October  with  the  rain  of  ruined  leaves. 


A  RE-ASSURANCE 

WITH  what  doubting  eyes,  oh  sparrow. 
Thou  regardwst  me. 
Underneath  yon  spray  of  yarrow. 
Dipping  cautiously. 

Fear  me  not,  oh  little  sparrow,  \ 

Bathe  and  never  fear. 
For  to  me  both  pool  and  yarrow 

And  thyself  are  dear. 
-^8 


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1, 


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ise, 

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row. 


THE  POET'S  POSSESSION 

THE  POET'S  POSSESSION 

THINK  not,  oh  master   of  the   well-tilled 
field. 

This  earth  is  only  thine  ;  for  after  thee. 
When  all  is  sown  and  gathered  and  put  by. 
Comes  the  grave  poet  with  creative  eye. 
And  from  these  silent  acres  and  clean  plots. 
Bids  with  his  wand  the  fancied  after-yield, 
A  second  tilth  and  second  harvest,  be. 
The  crop  of  images  and  curious  thoughts. 

AN   AUTUMN   LANDSCAPE 

NO  wind  there  is  that  either  pipes  or  moans; 
The  fields  are  cold  and  still;  the  sky 
Is  covered  with  a  blue-gray  sheet 
Of  motionless  cloud;  and  at  my  feet 
The  river,  curling  softly  by. 
Whispers  and  dimples  round  its  quiet  gray  stones. 

Along  the  chill  green  slope  that  dips  and  heaves 
The  road  runs  rough  and  silent,  lined 
With  plum-trees,  misty  and  blue-gray. 
And  poplars  pallid  as  the  day. 
In  masses  spectral,  undefined. 
Pale  greenish  stems  half  hid  in  dry  gray  leaves. 

And  on  beside  the  river's  sober  edge 
A  long  fresh  field  lies  black.     Beyond, 
Low  thickets  gray  and  reddish  stand, 

39 


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I  ■  ' 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


llf 


Stroked  white  with  birch;  and  near  at  hand. 
Over  a  little  steel-smooth  pond. 
Hang  multitudes  of  thin  and  withering  sedge. 

Across  a  waste  and  solitary  rise 
A  ploughman  urges  his  dull  team, 

A  stooped  gray  figure  with  prone  brow 
That  plunges  bending  to  the  plough 
With  strong,  uneven  steps.     The  stream 
Rings  and  re-echoes  with  his  furious  cries. 

Sometimes  the  lowing  of  a  cow,  long-drawn. 
Comes  from  far  off;  and  crows  in  strings 
Pass  on  the  upper  silences. 
A  flock  of  small  gray  goldfinches. 
Flown  down  with  silvery  twitterings. 
Rustle  among  the  birch-cones  and  are  gone. 

This  day  the  season  seems  like  one  that  heeds. 
With  fixid  ear  and  lifted  hand. 

All  moods  that  yet  are  known  on  earth. 
All  motions  that  have  faintest  birth. 
If  haply  she  may  understand 
The  utmost  inward  sense  of  all  her  deeds. 


'  i 


IN    NOVEMBER 

WITH  loitering  step  and  quiet  eye. 
Beneath  the  low  November  sky, 
I  wandered  in  the  woods,  and  found 
A  clearing,  where  the  broken  ground 


40 


II  I  iiMiiMiiri  I  nil  I  ii    I 


IN  NOVEMBER 


'(, 


Was  scattered  with  black  stumps  and  briers. 
And  the  old  wreck  of  forest  fires. 
It  was  a  bleak  and  sandy  spot. 
And,  all  about,  the  vacant  plot 
Was  peopled  and  inhabited 

By  scores  of  mulleins  long  since  dead. 
A  silent  and  forsaken  brood 
In  that  mute  opening  of  the  wood. 
So  shrivelled  and  so  thin  they  were. 
So  gray,  so  haggard,  and  austere. 
Not  plants  at  all  they  seemed  to  me. 
But  rather  some  spare  company 
Of  hermit  folk,  who  long  ago. 
Wandering  in  bodies  to  and  fro. 
Had  chanced  upon  this  lonely  way. 
And  rested  thus,  till  death  one  day' 
Surprised  them  at  their  compline  prayer. 
And  left  them  standing  lifeless  there. 

There  was  no  sound  about  the  wood 
Save  the  wind's  secret  stir.      I  stood 
Among  the  mullein-stalks  as  still 
As  if  myself  had  grown  to  be 
One  of  their  sombre  company, 
A  body  without  wish  or  will. 
And  as  I  stood,  quite  suddenly, 
Down  from  a  furrow  in  the  sky 
The  sun  shone  out  a  little  space 
Across  that  silent  sober  place. 
Over  the  sand  heaps  and  brown  sod. 
The  mulleins  and  dead  goldenrod, 

41 


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if 


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LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


And  passed  beyond  the  thickets  gray. 
And  lit  the  tallen  leaves  that  lay. 
Level  and  deep  within  the  wood, 
A  rustling  yellow  multitude. 

And  all  around  me  the  thin  light. 
So  sere,  so  melancholy  bright,    , 
Fell  like  the  half-reflected  gleam 
Or  shadow  of  some  former  dream; 
A  moment's  golden  revery 
Poured  out  on  every  plant  and  tree 
A  semblance  of  weird  joy,  or  less, 
A  sort  of  spectral  happiness; 
And  I,  too,  standing  idly  there. 
With  muffled  hands  in  the  chill  air. 
Felt  the  warm  glow  about  my  feet. 
And  shuddering  betwixt  cold  and  heat. 
Drew  my  thoughts  closer,  like  a  cloak. 
While  something  in  my  blood  awoke, 
A  nameless  and  unnatural  cheer, 
A  pleasure  secret  and  austere. 


BY  AN  AUTUMN  STREAM 

NOW  overhead. 
Where  the  rivulet  loiters  and  stops. 
The  bittersweet  hangs  from  the  tops 
Of  the  alders  and  cherries 
Its  bunches  of  beautiful  berries. 
Orange  and  red. 


42 


BY  AN  AUTUMN  STREAM 


'ti 


And  the  snowbirds  flee. 
Tossing  up  on  the  far  brown  field. 
Now  flashing  and  now  concealed. 
Like  fringes  of  spray 
That  vanish  and  gleam  on  the  gray- 
Field  of  the  sea. 

Flickering  light. 

Come  the  last  of  the  leaves  down  borne. 

And  patches  of  pale  white  corn 

In  the  wind  complain. 

Like  the  slow  rustle  of  rain 

Noticed  by  night. 

Withered  and  thinned. 

The  sentinel  mullein  looms. 

With  the  pale  gray  shadowy  plumes 

Of  the  goldenrod ; 

And  the  milkweed  opens  its  pod. 

Tempting  the  wind. 

Aloft  on  the  hill, 

A  cloudrift  opens  and  shines 

Through  a  break  in  its  gorget  of  pines. 

And  it  dreams  at  my  feet 

In  a  sad,  silvery  sheet. 

Utterly  still. 

All  things  that  be 

Seem  plunged  into  silence,  distraught. 

By  some  stern,  some  necessitous  thought: 

43 


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,••» 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


It  wraps  and  enthralls 

Marsh,  meadow,  and  forest j  and  falls 

Also  on  me. 


SNOWBIRDS 

ALONG  the  narrow  sandy  height 
I  watch  them  swiftly  come  and  go. 
Or  round  the  leafless  wood. 
Like  flurries  of  wind-driven  snow. 
Revolving  in  perpetual  flight, 
A  changing  multitude. 


Nearer  and  nearer  still  they  sway. 
And,  scattering  in  a  circled  sweep. 

Rush  down  without  a  sound  ; 
And  now  I  see  them  peer  and  peep. 
Across  yon  level  bleaK  and  gray. 

Searching  the  frozen  ground, — 


Until  a  little  wind  upheaves. 

And  makes  a  sudden  rustling  there. 
And  then  they  drop  their  play. 
Flash  up  into  the  sunless  air. 
And  like  a  flight  of  silver  leaves 
Swirl  round  and  sweep  away. 


44 


s   / 


SNOW    , 


SNOW 

WHITE  are  the  far-off  plains,  and  white 
The  fading  forests  grow  ; 
The  wind  dies  out  along  the  height. 

And  denser  still  the  snow, 

A  gathering  weight  on  roof  and  tree. 

Falls  down  scarce  audibly. 


<  I 


ii 


♦^ 


The  road  before  me  smooths  and  fills 

Apace,  and  all  about 
The  fences  dwindle,  and  the  hills 

Are  blotted  slowly  out ; 
The  naked  trees  loom  spectrally 

Into  the  dim  white  sky. 


The  meadows  and  far-sheeted  streams 
Lie  still  without  a  sound  ; 

Like  some  soft  minister  of  dreams 

The  snow-fall  hoods  me  round  ; 

In  wood  ar  J  water,  earth  and  air, 
A  silence  everywhere. 


Save  when  at  lonely  intervals 

Some  farmer's  sleigh,  urged  on. 

With  rustling  runners  and  sharp  bells. 
Swings  by  me  and  is  gone  ; 

Or  from  the  empty  waste  I  hear 
A  sound  remote  and  clear; 


45 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


The  barking  of  a  dog,  or  call 
To  cattle,  sharply  pealed. 

Borne  echoing  from  some  wayside  stall 
Or  barnyard  far  a-field  ; 

Then  all  is  silent,  and  the  snow 
Falls,  settling  soft  and  slow. 


The  evening  deepens,  and  the  gray 
Folds  closer  earth  and  sky  ; 

The  world  seems  shrouded  far  away  ; 
Its  noises  sleep,  and  I, 

As  secret  as  yon  buried  stream. 
Plod  dumbly  on^  and  dream. 


SUNSET 

FROM  this  windy  bridge  at  rest. 
In  some  former  curious  hour. 
We  have  watched  the  city's  hue. 
All  along  the  orange  west. 
Cupola  and  pointed  tower. 
Darken  into  solid  blue. 


46 


Tho*  the  biting  north  wind  breaks 
Full  across  this  drifted  hold. 
Let  us  stand  with  ic^d  cheeks 
Watching  westward  as  of  old; 


SUNSET 


Past  the  violet  mountain-head 
To  the  farthest  fringe  of  pine. 
Where  far  off  the  purple-red 
Narrows  to  a  dusky  line. 
And  the  last  pale  splendors  die 
Slowly  from  the  olive  sky; 


'-   ,( 


Till  the  thin  clouds  wear  away 
Into  threads  of  purple-gray. 
And  the  sudden  stars  between 
Brighten  in  the  pallid  green; 


Till  above  the  spacious  east. 
Slow  returned  one  by  one, 
Like  pale  prisoners  released 
From  the  dungeons  of  the  su% 
Capella  and  her  train  appear 
In  the  glittering  Charioteer; 


Till  the  rounded  moon  shall  grow 
Great  above  the  eastern  snow. 
Shining  into  burnished  gold; 
And  the  silver  earth  outrolled. 
In  the  misty  yellow  light. 
Shall  take  on  the  width  of  night. 


Ill 


47 


■  ?      7 


11    ' 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


'I  » 


WINTER-STORE 

SUBTLY  conscious,  all  awake. 
Let  us  clear  our  eyes,  and  break 
Through  the  cloudy  chrysalis. 
See  the  wonder  as  it  is. 
Down  a  narrow  alley,  blind. 
Touch  and  vision,  heart  and  mind, 
T  *rned  sharply  inward,  still  we  plod. 
Till  the  calmly  smiling  god 
Leaves  us,  and  our  spirits  grow 
More  thin,  more  acrid,  as  we  go. 
Creeping  by  the  sullen  wall. 
We  forego  the  power  to  see. 
The  threads   that  bind  us  to  the  All, 
God  or  the  Immensity; 
Whereof  on  the  eternal  road 
Man  is  but  a  passing  mode. 


Too  blind  we  are,  too  little  see 
Of  the  magic  pageantry. 
Every  minute,  every  hour. 
From  the  cloudflake  to  the  flower. 
Forever  old,  forever  strange. 
Issuing  in  perpetual  change 
From  the  rainbow  gates  of  Time. 

But  he  who  through  this  common  air 
Surely  knows  the  great  and  fair. 
What  is  lovely,  what  sublime. 
Becomes  in  an  increasing  span. 
One  with  earth  and  one  with  man. 


48 


-\ 


i    ;4, 


!! 


pnv^'^nvmvw" 


«a^«ii«nnniPmB 


mmm 


MM 


WINTER-STORE 


One,  despite  these  mortal  scars. 
With  the  planets  and  the  stars; 
And  Nature  from  her  holy  place. 
Bending  with  unveiled  face. 
Fills  him  in  her  divine  employ 
With  her  own  majestic  joy. 

Up  the  fielded  slopes  at  morn. 
Where  light  wefts  of  shadow  pass. 
Films  upon  the  bending  corn, 
I  shall  sweep  the  purple  grass. 
Sun-crowned  heights  and  mossy  woods. 
And  the  outer  solitudes. 
Mountain-valleys,  dim  with  pine. 
Shall  be  home  and  haunt  of  mine. 
I  shall  search  in  crannied  hollows. 
Where  the  sunlight  scarcely  follows. 
And  the  secret  forest  brook 
Murmurs,  and  from  nook  to  nook 
Forever  downward  curls  and  cools. 
Frothing  in  the  bouldered  pools. 

Many  a  noon  shall  find  me  laid 
In  the  pungent  balsam  shade. 
Where  sharp  breezes  spring  and  shiver 
On  some  deep  rough-coasted  river. 
And  the  plangent  waters  come, 
Amber-hued  and  streaked  with  foam; 
Where  beneath  the  sunburnt  hills 
All  day  long  the  crowded  mills 
With  remorseless  champ  and  scream 
Overlord  the  sluicing  stream. 


If^ 


tfi 


49 


.11 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


And  the  rapids'  iron  roar 
Hammers  at  the  forest's  core  ; 
Where  corded  rafts  creep  slowly  on. 
Glittering  in  the  noonday  sun. 
And  the  tawny  river-dogs. 
Shepherding  the  branded  logs. 
Bind  and  heave  with  cadenced  cry; 
Where  the  blackened  tugs  go  by. 
Panting  hard  and  straining  slow. 
Laboring  at  the  weighty  tow. 
Flat-nosed  barges  all  in  trim. 
Creeping  in  long  cumbrous  line. 
Loaded  to  the  water's  brim 
With  the  clean,  cool-scented  pine. 

Perhaps  in  some  low  meadow-land. 
Stretching  wide  on  either  hand, 
I  shall  see  the  belted  bees 
Rocking  with  the  tricksy  breeze 
In  the  spired  meadow-sweet. 
Or  with  eager  trampling  feet 
Burrowing  in  the  boneset  blooms. 
Treading  out  the  dry  perfumes. 
Where  sun-hot  hay-fields  newly  mown 
Climb  the  hillside  ruddy  brown, 
I  shall  see  the  haymakers. 
While  the  noonday  scarcely  stirs. 
Brown  of  neck  and  booted  gray. 
Tossing  up  the  rustling  hay, 
While  the  hay-racks  bend  and  rock. 
As  they  take  each  scented  cock. 


so 


I 


'i"*»^t!SL 


WINTER-STORE 


Jolting  over  dip  and  rise; 
And  the  wavering  butterflies 
O'er  the  spaces  brown  and  bare 
Light  and  wander  here  and  there. 


I  shall  stray  by  many  a  stream. 

Where  the  half-shut  lilies  gleam. 

Napping  out  the  sultry  days 

In  the  quiet  secluded  bays  ; 

Where  the  tasseled  rushes  tower. 

O'er  the  purple  pickerel-flower. 

And  the  floating  dragon-fly — 

Azure  glint  and  crystal  gleam — 

Watches  o'er  t^-e  burnished  stream 

With  his  eye  of  ebony  ; 

Where  the  bull-frog  lolls  at  rest 

On  his  float  of  lily-leaves. 

That  the  swaying  water  weaves. 

And  distends  his  yellow  breast. 

Lowing  out  from  shore  to  shore 

With  a  hollow  vibrant  roar; 

Where  the  softest  wind  that  blows, 

As  it  lightly  comes  and  goes. 

O'er  the  jungled  river  meads. 

Stirs  a  whisper  in  the  reeds. 

And  wakes  the  crowded  bull-rushes 

From  their  stately  reveries. 

Flashing  through  their  long-leaved  hordes 

Like  a  brandish-ing  of  swords  ; 

There,  too,  the  frost-like  arrow-flowers 

Tremble  to  the  golden  core, 

51 


i    ] 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


Children  of  enchanted  hours. 
Whom  the  rustling  river  bore 
In  the  night's  bewildered  noon. 
Woven  of  water  and  the  moon. 


I  shall  hear  the  grasshoppers 

From  the  parched  grass  rehearse. 

And  with  drowsy  note  prolong 

Evermore  the  same  thin  song. 

I  shall  hear  the  crickets  tell 

Stories  by  the  humming  well. 

And  mark  the  locust,  with  quaint  eyes. 

Caper  in  his  cloak  of  gray 

Like  a  jester  in  disguise 

Rattling  by  the  dusty  way. 


ilS 


I  shall  dream  by  upland  fences. 
Where  the  season's  wealth  condenses 
Over  many  a  weedy  wreck. 
Wild,  uncared-for,  desert  places. 
That  sovereign  Beauty  loves  to  deck 
With  her  softest,  dearest  graces. 
There  the  long  year  dreams  in  quiet. 
And  the  summer's  strength  runs  riot. 
Shall  I  not  remember  these. 
Deep  in  winter  reveries  ? 
Berried  brier  and  thistle-bloom. 
And  milkweed  with  its  dense  perfume  ; 
Slender  vervain  towering  up 
In  a  many-branched  cup. 
Like  a  candlestick,  each  spire 


52 


^« 


*«tr*5Sik., 


WINTER-STORE 


Kindled  with  a  violet  fire; 
Matted  creepers  and  wild  cherries. 
Purple-bunched  elderberries. 
And  on  scanty  plots  of  sod 
Groves  of  branchy  goldenrod. 

What  though  autumn  mornings  now, 

Winterward  with  glittering  brow. 

Stiffen  in  the  silver  grass  ; 

And  what  though  robins  flock  and  pass. 

With  subdued  and  sober  call. 

To  the  old  year's  funeral  ; 

Though  October's  crimson  leaves 

Rustle  at  the  gusty  door. 

And  the  tempest  round  the  eaves 

Alternate  with  pipe  and  roar; 

I  sit,  as  erst,  unharmed,  secure. 

Conscious  that  my  store  is  sure. 

Whatsoe'er  the  fenced  fields. 

Or  the  untilled  forest  yields 

Of  unhurt  remembrances. 

Or  thoughts,  far-glimpsed,  half-followed,  these 

1  have  reaped  and  laid  away, 

A  treasure  of  unwinnowed  grain. 

To  the  garner  packed  and  gray 

Gathered  without  toil  or  strain. 


Ill' 


And  when  the  darker  days  shall  come. 
And  the  fields  are  white  and  dumb; 
When  our  fires  are  half  in  vain. 
And  the  crystal  starlight  weaves 


53 


I 


u 

w 


I 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


Mockeries  of  summer  leaves. 
Pictured  on  the  icy  pane; 
When  the  high  aurora  gleams 
Far  above  the  Arctic  streams 
Like  a  line  of  shifting  spears. 
And  the  broad  pine-circled  meres. 
Glimmering  in  that  spectral  light. 
Thunder  through  the  northern  night; 
Then  within  the  bolted  door 
I  shall  con  my  summer  store; 
Though  the  fences  scarcely  show 
Black  above  the  drifted  snow. 
Though  the  icy  sweeping  wind 
Whistle  in  the  empty  tree. 
Safe  within  the  sheltered  mind, 
I  shall  feed  on  memory. 


Yet  across  the  windy  night 
Comes  upon  its  wings  a  cry; 
Fashioned  forms  and  modes  take  flight. 
And  a  vision  sad  and  high 
Of  the  laboring  world  down  there. 
Where  the  lights  burn  red  and  warm. 
Pricks  my  soul  with  sudden  stare. 
Glowing  through  the  veils  of  storm. 
In  the  city  yonder  sleep 
Those  who  smile  and  those  who  weep. 
Those  whose  lips  are  set  with  care. 
Those  whose  brows  are  smooth  and  fair; 


*«-,! 


54 


*<?r*^s^. 


WINTER-STORE 


Mourners  whom  the  dawning  light 
Shall  grapple  with  an  old  distress; 
Lovers  folded  at  midnight 
In  their  bridal  happiness; 
Pale  watchers  by  beloved  beds. 
Fallen  a-drowse  with  nodding  heads. 
Whom  sleep  captured  by  surprise. 
With  the  circles  round  their  eyes; 
Maidens  with  quiet-taken  breath. 
Dreaming  of  enchanted  bowers; 
Old  men  with  the  mask  of  death; 
Little  children  soft  as  flowers; 
Those  who  wake  wild-eyed  and  start 
In  some  madness  of  the  heart; 
Those  whose  lips  and  brows  of  stone 
Evil  thoughts  have  graven  upon. 
Shade  by  shade  and  line  by  line, 
Refashioning  what  was  once  divine. 


All  these  sleep,  and  through  the  night. 

Comes  a  passion  and  a  cry. 

With  a  blind  sorrow  and  a  might, 

I  know  not  whence,  I  know  not  why, 

A  something  I  cannot  control, 

A  nameless  hunger  of  the  soul. 

It  holds  me  fast.      In  vain,  in  vain, 

I  remember  how  of  old 

I  saw  the  ruddy  race  of  men. 

Through  the  glittering  world  outrolled, 

A  gay-smiling  multitude. 


^H^t 


LYRICS  OF  EARTH 


All  immortal,  all  divine. 
Treading  in  a  wreathid  line 
By  a  pathway  through  a  wood. 


THE  SUN  CUP 

THE  earth  is  the  cup  of  the  sun. 
That  he  filleth  at  morning  with  wine. 
With  the  warm,  strong  wine  of  his  might 
From  the  vintage  of  gold  and  of  light. 
Fills  it,  and  makes  it  divine. 


N' 


|i 


And  at  night  when  his  journey  is  done. 
At  the  gate  of  his  radiant  hall. 
He  setteth  his  lips  to  the  brim. 
With  a  long  last  look  of  his  eye. 
And  lifts  it  and  draineth  it  dry. 
Drains  till  he  leaveth  it  all 
Empty  and  hollow  and  dim. 


And  then,  as  he  passes  to  sleep. 
Still  full  of  the  feats  that  he  did. 
Long  ago  in  Olympian  wars. 
He  closes  it  down  with  the  sweep 
Of  its  slow-turning  luminous  lid. 
Its  cover  of  darkness  and  stars. 
Wrought  once  by  Hephaestus  of  old 
With  violet  and  vastness  and  gold. 


vine, 
ght 


)j 


The  first  edition  of  this  book 
consists  of  five  hundred  copies, 
printed  by  the  Boston  Engraving 
and  Mclndoe  Printing  Company, 
Boston,  during  March,  1896,  with 
fifty  additional  copies  on  Arnold 
paper. 


\  'i 


